Troubleshooting Windows Driver Problems
Even with the expert management services of Driver Detective, you can still run into driver issues. Most users don’t understand (and don’t want to understand) exactly how their computer systems work. Driver problems can arise seemingly out of thin air, or they can arise immediately after a new piece of hardware has been installed in the computer. They can also show up after the OS or another hardware driver has been updated, installed or even removed.
One good tool for determining the overall performance of your system is called the DPC Latency Checker. This is a free utility that can provide immediate information on the performance of your computer. It can help you diagnose driver problems, though it doesn’t get specific about which driver(s) may be having difficulty. In other words, this tool will point you in the right direction when trying to troubleshoot system problems.
The DPC Latency Checker with a tutorial that will help you figure out how to use the program. DPC Latency checker is a small program, and there’s no installing to do, simply download it and run it.
DPC Latency Checker measures how quickly your system responds to your commands. As you open and close applications, DPC Latency Checker will graphically display your system’s response capabilities. Using this tool while you perform certain problematic tasks can help you determine what the system is doing. You may need to disable devices and then re-add them one at a time to determine which devices may be causing difficulty.
Once you’ve located the problem, you can disable the misbehaving device as a temporary measure. If you don’t have Driver Detective loaded, you might try locating the following to resolve the issue:
Apply all OS updates and security patches.
Uninstall the driver for the misbehaving device.
Apply all driver updates and patches for the misbehaving device. Check with the device manufacturer for the most up-to-date driver, and be sure to pay attention to the specific OS requirements of each driver. If the most current driver won’t work with your OS, locate the last good driver for your version of the OS and install that one.
Try the suspect device once a fresh copy of the driver is installed to see if your problem has been resolved.